This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
What's the best plant food?
MrsFoxglove
Posts: 180
I currently do a liquid feed of "Miracle Gro" but read somewhere that it's a no no.
Any advice as to what I should use instead?
Thanks 
0
Posts
Why on earth would it be a 'no no' ? I've used the soluble MiracleGro for all my plants , greenhouse & garden, with excellent results for many years .
What kind of plants are you feeding ?
The best plant food is liquid seaweed and hydrolysed fish meal organic , feeds the plants and conditions the soil , where as miracle gro is a chemical fertiliser as no benefits to the soil
Miracle grow is really high in nitrogen. Too much nitrogen makes the plants grow well, but as has been said before on here, but it's like feeding a child on steroids all the time, good fast growth but not a healthy diet long term . Plants need balanced feed to be really healthy.
A good all rounder is tomato fertilser as a solution
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/effects-much-nitrogen-plants-43755.html
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
How long is a piece of string? If you want flowers or fruit a high potash and potassium feed is best. If you want leaves nitrogen. A good free all-round feed is nettle leaves with boiling water poured over them, like tea, then extra water.
Thanks for all of the above suggestions
Use the last of your miracle grow to provide lots of big nettles to make into liquiid nettle feed ?
'You must have some bread with it me duck!'
I'll give that a miss thanks Iamweedy, don't want nettles at all
Tomorite for me every, clematis love it
I use tomato food for heavy flowering plants, but I use B,F&Bone as a general fertiliser in borders early in the year, and when I plant something new. If the soil is in godd heart, plants shouldn't need too much, but I garden on clay, so that's already great for growth.
For pots and containers, it depends what's in them. Shrubs (long term potted) get liquid seaweed now and again, and the odd feed of tomato food if they're flowering ones. I also replace a bit of compost/soil if possible in spring.
Annuals get some slow release granular food when I put them in (I don't grow many of those) but tomato food when they're starting to exhaust the nutrients in the pots. Sweet peas for instance - as they need a lot of food to keep flowering. Salad crops get liquid seaweed occasionally as they need foliar growth.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...